Improvement in horizontal water-wheels



' UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE.

ADDISON M. FORD AND CHARLES W'. VARNER, OF JERICHO, YERMONT.

IMPROVEMENT IN HORIZONTAL WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 26,424, dated December' 1S, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ADDISON M. FOR) and CHARLES W. WARNER, both of Jericho, in the county of Chittenden and State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Improved Scroll Tater-Wheel; and we do here by declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the saine, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of the wheel; Fig. 2, a section of the wheel, showing the shape and position of thebuckets in the wheel; and Fig. 3, a perspective view of the scroll before the wheel is placed within it..

We construct sa-id wheel as follows: The buckets are made in what is termed ogee form, and are placed in the wheel, as shown in Figs. l and 2, at points marked ct and b, and each bucket projects inwardly obliquely in such a manner that the ends of the buckets at the outer edge of the wheel are nearly twice as far from each other as the other ends of the buckets are in the inner part of the wheel, as shown in Fig. 2 of saidrdrawings. The object of giving the buckets the ogee form and so placing them in the wheel is that as the water strikes the convex sides of the buckets it will be retained long enough to have its force expended before it leaves the buckets and passes out at the bottom of the wheel. The buckets project inwardly about one-fifth the diameter of the wheel.

About midway between the top and bottom of the wheel we place what we term a center lifter of the circumference of the wheel, being a thin plate of iron of dish shape-z. e.,

projecting from the outer to the inner edge' thereof downward at an angle of about fortyfive degrees, as shown at point c in Fig. 1 and this center lifter extends from the outer edge inwardly toward the center of the wheel a little farther than the buckets do, leaving an opening in the center of the wheel of nearly three-fifths of its diameter for the discharge of water from the wheel. The top of the wheel is a plate of iron to which the upper edges of the upper tier of buckets a are attached, and the lower edges of buckets a are attached to the upper side of the center lifter. The buckets b are placed below and in a line with buckets a, and the upper edges of buckets h are attached to the under side of the center lifter, and the lower edge of them to a dish-shaped rim of suitable width, as shown at point d in Fig. l, the object of which rim is to hold the buckets in their place, strengthen the wheel, and from its dish shape, its angle downward being the same as that of the center lifter,'it facilitates the discharge of water from the wheel. An upright shaft passes through the center of the wheel, as shown at point e in Fig. l, the lower end of which rests in a step, as shown at point f in Fig. 3.

The purpose of the center lifter is threefold. First, as the water strikes the under side of the lifter it raises the wheel slightly, and thus relieves the friction upon the step in part and gives the wheel an easier and more rapid motion; secondly, its dish shape tends to facilitate the discharge of the water from the wheel after its force is expended upon the buckets, and, thirdly, by placing the lifter near the center of the wheel, if there be only a small supply of water sufficient to iill half the wheel or less, the benefit of the lifter in that position would be attained, when, if it were placed at the top of the wheel its benefits would be lost in low water from the fact that the water would not in such case reach the lifter, and consequently could not act upon it.

Ve construct a ease in the foi-1n of a scroll, as shown in Fig. 2 of said drawings, in which the wheel is placed, and on the inner side of which is a circular iron plate in the form of the scroll, projecting from the side of the case at a point corresponding to the place of the lifter in the wheel and coming so near the outer edge of the lifter as to leave only sufficient space between said circular plate and the outer edge of the lifter as to permit the Wheel to run without the lifter and said circular plate coming in contact with each other, which circular plate is shown at point g in Fig. 3, and the object of plate g is to conine the water when running the wheel with only half the water required to lill it, so that it will act wholly upon the lower buckets I). (Shown in Fig. l.)

Ve construct a gate to the scroll, as shown at point h in Fig. 3, which is attached at the top of the orifice for letting the water into the scroll by hinges at points marked 'L' in Fig. 3,

2 v @dem 4 which gate is hoisted by turning it upward lifter C and band d, as shown in Fig. 1, and from the bottom inwardly, and thus letting of the buckets a and Z), combined in the Inanthe Water into the scroll and upon the buckner and for the purposes substantially as ets of the Wheel. above set forth.

More than one liftermaybe introdueedinto 1 T the Wheel When the supply of water Would be R adapted to the use of more than one. Y

What We claim as our invention, and de- Vitnesses:

sire to secure by Letters Patent, is- R. S. BLODGETT, The construction and arrangement of the HENRYPARKER. 

